Hobo13
by BarrelRacer13
Summary: Red, before he was Tallest, went to Hobo13 for training. he meets some odd friends, has the best -yet meanest- teacher EVER and is almost killed several times! yay! sound's like fun. join him as he tries to survive being trained by a different species. RR
1. Chapter 1

**I don't know if I'll continue this…it depends on reviews. And I thought of this while watch Hobo13….**

_It's before Impending Doom 1, Tallest Red still being a smeet. Tallest Purple studying science, while Red trains for soldiers. The two hardly know each other. But along with Red on Hobo13, is the Vortian known as Lard Nar, who has already mastered science and technology. _

RED'S POV

I looked around the room I was to stay while being on Hobo13. There were two other beds, other the one I was assigned. One was clearly being used. Other then being messy and unmade, it had little gadgets on the shelves that were near it. The other was being used too, but it wasn't as easy to tell. The bed was made, but there were weapon plans on it. So I would be stuck with nerds. Yay.

I put my stuff –some clothes, boots, toothbrush, normal stuff like that- on the empty bed, and then headed out to the dining hall. The strange thing about this place is you have to sit at the table with your roommates. Meaning I had to find the table labeled B46-A5. It took a while to find that table. But a fellow Irken whose name I didn't know pointed toward a table in the back where two aliens were sitting. A Vortain and a Diamond Back. The Diamond Back was a dark blue, and looked like he would rip someone to pieces if they even looked at him wrong. The Vortian looked powerful as well, with thick horns that could smash through metal and legs more powerful then most. Their table was lobed B46-A5.

**(A/N: the Diamond Back is like that one girl diamond-looking alien in Hobo13, but much darker like a Yankee blue, or midnight blue…..)**

I went over to them. Food hadn't been served yet. Except for a small cake.

"You make one wrong move, Lard Nar, and I'll have your head on my wall." The Diamond Back growled. The Vortain growled back.

"You even attempt to behead me, I'll smash your whole body and sell it for more then its worth."

I blinked. Well, they seemed like they didn't like each other. Next thing I know though, they both reach forward and grab at a piece of cake in the center of the table. The Vortain got it first.

"Ha!" he laughed at the other one. The Diamond back lunged at him for it, and knocked him to the floor.

"Give. Me. that. Cake!"

"In your dreams, rock-head!"

The Vortain held it as far out of reach as he could, using his lightning bolt-shaped legs to hold the Diamond Back away. But then they seemed to notice me standing there.

"Hello." The Vortain greeted. In the time he was distracted, the cake was snatched from his hand, and the Diamond Back grabbed it.

"Hey!" but it was too late. The Diamond Back stuffed it into his face, before getting back up and going calmly back to his seat. The Vortain pulled himself up shortly after.

"Can we help you?" the blue one asked annoyed.

"Uh, im supposed to sit at this table." I said nervously. Im usually not nervous, but I was nervous now.

"So you're the new one. You didn't touch any of my stuff, did you?" the Vortain asked.

"No, I didn't touch anything."

"Good." He calmed down.

"What's your name?" the blue one asked.

"Red."

"I can see why. Your eyes are an odd color for Irkens." The Vortain stated. I only blinked.

"Im Five." The Diamond Back stated.

"Five years?"

"No. I don't like my real name, therefore, I don't tell it to anyone. Everyone calls me Five."

"Okay…."

"Im Lard Nar." The Vortain said.

"I hope you don't mind snoring. Lardy snores louder then a Blorch Rat." Five said.

"I do not!" Lard Nar protested.

"Yes you do. I've heard you."

"You snore too. It sounds like rocks grinding together."

"And you would know what that sounds like?"

"Yes, I would. I carved a model of new weapon out of stone with a sharp rock. And had a headache for days afterward."

"Nerd."

Lard Nar only rolled his eyes.

"You can sit, you know. we don't bite." Five said.

"Five bites. I don't." Lard Nar said. I sat down a little unsure. These two were weird. But when breakfast was served, everyone shut up and ate.

"Uh….who's the teacher person?" I asked as we walked back to the room.

"The Datens are the main ones." Five answered.

"Datens?" i have never heard of 'Datens' before.

"They're a race that's built for war and combat. The average size of a Daten is the size of your Tallest. They've been defeated once in billions of years. Well, only one was ever recorded. One of their best warriors –they don't call them soldiers- is a female…she's here sometimes to teach, but only when she's forced too. But other then that, it's normally males. You'll learn them as you go along." Lard Nar explained.

"Oh. What do they look like?"

"Like that." They pointed toward a blue upright-walking alien with perfectly strait antennae, black armor, and blood-red eyes. It was taller then Tallest Sketch, our current Tallest. And looked a lot stronger.

"I think that's….i dunno. I don't think I've seen him before." Lard Nar cocked his head to the side.

"He's taller then the others I've seen. And there's someone next to him." Five pointed to someone next to him. it was slightly shorter, with antennae that curled on the end. It looked like it couldn't even snap a curly fry in half. It had a long black rob on, that glittered in the light.

"Oh crud…it's her again." Lard Nar sighed with annoyance.

"Who?" I was so confused.

"She's the one Daten female that sometimes comes and works with us. But she doesn't know the meaning of breaks. One time, I almost peed myself because she wouldn't let me leave until she got bored. She amuses herself by pushing everyone to their limits" he explained.

"You were told to go before class." Five stated.

"I didn't have to go then!" Lard Nar defended himself.

Pretty soon, I was standing in between them in a line, facing that curly-antenna Daten. I hadn't realized how skinny she was earlier. She looked like a smeet could snap her in half. I was biting my lip to keep from laughing out loud at this. Maybe Lard Nar and Five were weaker then I thought. She was possibly the weakest alien I've ever seen!

"Because I find it funny to watch you weaklings-"

I cut her off with laughing. She snapped her head around to glare at me, her red eyes darkening to a brick red.

"What do you find so funny?" she growled. Lard Nar and Five took a step away from me, and lowered their eyes along with everyone else.

"You called us weaklings. A smeet could beet you in a arm wrestling match!" I burst out laughing again. Until I felt a fist slam into jaw and knock me to the ground. I spit out a tooth, before glaring back up at her. Her eyes were now completely jet black. I growled, and lunged at her, but she easily dodged out of the way, grabbed my arm, and twisted it until I was on the ground almost crying out in pain.

"There's a reason Datens are teaching you ungrateful, sorry excuses for life. We're made for war, and I've seen the bloodiest battle in history. unless you want to become the bloodiest body in history, you will learn your place, and never challenge me." she hissed before letting go and standing strait.

"Do all you disgusting beings get the message?" she asked loudly, pointing toward me as I sat on the ground, glaring at her. Everyone nodded as one. Lard Nar shot me a sympatric look.

"Good. Now go run five miles, no walking, and no breaks. Go!" everyone took off at a reasonable pace.

"You to, you blob of snot." She growled.

"What?" I looked around. I saw no blobs of snot.

"You! Go run, before I use you as target practice!" she snapped.

"How am I a blob of snot?" I should really learn to stop questioning everyone. It makes me sound like im stupid.

"You're green, like snot. Now GO!"

I didn't waste anymore time. I got up and ran to catch up with Lard Nar and Five. My arm was killing me.

"Never talk back to her!" Lard Nar exclaimed when I got to them.

"Thanks for the warning." I grumbled.

"It's gonna take some work to get a reputation with her. If you ever become any good, or show promise, she'll notice and remember it. It's taken five years for her to notice Lard Nar, and he's one of the better 'students' here." Five said.

"Does she always make people run five miles?" I panted.

"Yeah. sometimes less, sometimes more. she says it will prepare you for anything. It's better then what it could be. One of the nicer Daten who teaches sometimes said that the training they go through is so much harder. Running for twenty miles with sixty pounds on their backs is beginner for them. they don't mess around when it comes to training." Lard Nar answered.

"They don't move so slow and talk during training either! Speed it up!"

all three of us jumped at the sound of her voice coming from right behind us. But she paid it no attention. She just pushed past and ran ahead.

"Someone got hurt." Five panted.

And he was right. As after we sped up, we found a crowd. And in the middle she was leaning over a Vortain, which seemed really hurt.

"OW! That hurts!"

"Shut up, you wimp! It's going to hurt even more if you keep whining like that!" she snapped back.

"Don't be so mean to him! he's hurt!" I should really learn to keep my big mouth shut. She glared at me.

"If there's anything I learned in all my years, it's that pain gets worse before it gets better. He's going to deal with more pain now, or he'll be in pain his whole life." She growled.

"Um, Lady Kir?"

"Don't call me a lady. I'm a warrior, healer, and invader. not some breeding-machine." She growled.

"Okay….Daten Kir?"

"Better."

"Why are you holding his leg like that?"

"Because he dislocated it trying to show off. therefore, I have to snap it back into place."

After that, the running was canceled for the day. but I think that just made the training a heck of a lot harder. We had to do these things called push-ups. And we had to do 50 of them with a pound added on our back each time. While we all broke our backs trying to do as she said, she sat there looking amused at the failed attempts of push-ups, and polishing this weapon. It looked like a laser gun, but had all these strange attachments and looked a LOT cooler.

Most of the others were whining after their 20th push-up. They had 20 pounds on their back. but Lard Nar and Five struggled on in silence. I tried to keep quiet, but couldn't help grunting when another pound of rock was dropped on my back after each one.

"Why don't you do any of the push-ups?" one of the others whined to her. When she looked up, I thought for sure that whoever asked that was going to be killed.

"Because, I've already been through training, and don't have to do push-ups if I don't want to."

"But I don't want to do them!"

"So? I don't care weather you _want_ to or not. You still have training to deal with."

Oh boy. This is going to be a LONG few years on Hobo13.

**Please review and tell me if I should continue! And anyone who has read Return of the Former Ally or Case of the Murder, you all know how mean Kir can get. Oh, this is gonna be fun…hehehe…..*evil grin***


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to try to continue this story. Just so you know, Kir's character changed a little. She looks the same, but is a bit more violent. Now you'll have to push me on this, and make sure I update, or I'll probably forget about it. **

RED'S POV

I stood next to Lard Nar and Five again, in a line. We were doing obstacle courses today, and for whatever reason, Kir seemed more up-tight than normal. She had told us what we were supposed to do, and was getting ready to show us.

"The only reason I'm showing you stupid organisms is because I honestly don't have much of a choice. Pay attention, because I'm only doing this once." Kir growled, before going to the starting point. I was rather curious to watch this. She was always making comments about how she was considered one of the best on her planet, but yet she never showed any proof.

I watched intently as she sprinted forward, and launched her halfway up a wall, using her claws and whatever was on her feet –the gown thing she wears makes it hard to tell if she wears shoes or not, and no one knows what a Daten's foot looks like- to haul herself over the wall and to the rings. The rings were huge, round wheels that if you touched them, they would either shock you, or explode. She leapt through them gracefully, and jumped up, grabbing a rope that was hanging from a ship that was stationary there, and swung her over the pit of boiling acid, and onto the little moving thingies. The moving thingies were just big plastic things that moved and jerked in every possible direction.

She stumbled a little there, but caught herself –while clearly cursing herself- and finished through those, finally landing on the target. She came back to us, and I couldn't help but notice that she was limping. It was very slight, barely there. She wouldn't put her full weight on her left foot. I would remember that for later, because according to Lard Nar, every third day we would have a wrestling match to practice battle skills for hand on hand combat and we could pick who we fought. Lard Nar would probably go after Five again, as they normally did, but for now, I knew who I was gonna pick. If I die….well, at least I wasn't a wimp. As long as she doesn't torture me and make me die a slow and painful death….

Lard Nar was next for the course. He had a little more trouble with the rings. That made me notice more about his legs. The shape they were made them fast and jumping easy, but they couldn't jump far or very high. So jumping through the hoops got him shocked a few times, but thankfully no explosions. He got over the acid, and then Five went. The wall was his biggest problem. He was built for fighting on flat surfaces or in ships, not over rough terrain. A bubble in the acid pit popped and splashed him, and Kir sent him away to the nurse –hesitating a little before saying nurse, as if she wasn't used the term.

I think I did pretty well in the course. I made it over the wall with ease, a huge plus of having long legs. The rings were a little scary, and I wasn't a fan of them, but I made it through nevertheless. The pit of acid smelled bad and I almost puked from the scent of it up close, but managed not to. The moving thingies were the hardest I think. How can you keep balance on something like that? Not to mention, there were some really sharp rocks down there, and I think I saw some dried blood on them.

We did the same course several times, each time Kir adding something to it. By adding things, I mean she was adding dance moves to it. She wanted us to stand on the wall and spin around with our arms out before going through the hoops. After the hoops, she wanted to us to grab the rope hanging from the ship, hang upside down basically with our legs wrapped around it and our arms swinging out, and then to twist around and spin through the moving thingies.

"We're here to be trained to fight and survive, not dance." I stated. Curse my big mouth. She glared at me. I again noticed how she was putting as little weight as possible on her left leg, and she had been favoring her right when she showed us the new course.

"That's what you're doing. Do you think in a war that you won't have enemies on all sides of you? You have to be able to move and fight on four sides at once if you want to live. Hanging from the rope by your legs is like swinging from a vine with strange, cannibalistic orange balls of spikes chasing after you and slashing at you. Would you rather let them cut you up, or would you rather block them and not lose a limb?" She sounded like she spoke from experience there. I didn't answer her.

A few of the stockier members of the class didn't do so well with this, Lard Nar included. His legs got stuck in the rope, and Kir had to cut him down and get a new rope. Lard Nar got his horn burned in the acid and was the next one to the nurse. Kir was ruthless with this course. She made us all do it until we were dripping sweat and hardly able to stand. And then she changed it up, adding weight to us now. We had to wear heavy armor, and she even told us that it's heavier than the modern stuff. She also made us carry a big rock, that we weren't allowed to let go of. She claimed this would come in handy if you were ever carrying something of value through a battle field.

She showed us one more time how to do it when she added a weight to our backs. It weighed at least 200 pounds, with the 20 pound rock, and the 50 pound armor. A moment too late I noticed that there was a small hole in the ground from when someone dropped their rock. She caught her left foot in it just because she jumped over the wall. I heard her curse loudly and thought for a second that I saw pain flash across her face. She was very sloppy going through this course, and when she finished, she didn't walk back to her normal spot. Instead, she sat a little to the side of the finish line and told us to start.

No one did good. No one at all. We all stumbled, fell, and dropped things. Kir was clearly annoyed.

"Again. Without failing so badly at it." She growled. We all sighed, and repeated it . It took us each about five tries to actually get through somewhat decently, and we were all panting and exhausted.

"Close enough. Find you partner for the wrestling now."

I'm pretty sure she didn't even look up from her claws, which she had been inspecting and picking at for the last three times over the course.

"We don't have an even number." I pointed out.

"And?"

"So one of us isn't going to have a wrestling partner."

"Fight with someone else then."

"That's an unfair advantage."

"Life is an unfair advantage."

"I want to fight you."

She looked up and narrowed her brick colored eyes at me. I noticed how they changed colors with her mood. Black was furious, blood colored –like my own- were passive and not caring, every color in between was a step closer to furious.

"That's just another unfair advantage, because I've been fighting way longer then you have."

"You said life was an unfair advantage. Surely I'll be meeting someone on the battle field one day with more experience than me." I stated. I could tell from her glare that she wasn't happy with my answer.

"I told you on your first day to never challenge me." She growled.

"Because you're afraid to get beat by a new student." Stupid, stupid, stupid. I never will learn to shut my big mouth, will I? Kir stood up, her gown falling back into place and her eyes almost as dark as it. Her antennae were flattened against her head, and I realized all the picking at her claws had actually been sharpening them.

"Stop staring." She sounded bored. I took a step back, and she stepped forward. "If you want to know what it's like to fight someone who has experience, then do it already. I don't have all day."

And so I jumped at her, but she easily side stepped and I tumbled to the ground. There were a few muffled snickered from the rest of the group. I decided that I would play dumb for now. Keep making stupid, predictable moves, before I would hit her ankle, which must be her weak spot. And she was buying my plan. Every move I made, I made sure it was easy to tell where I was going. She was getting bored and careless now. So I made sure I looked like I was going to aim for her right arm, but at the very last second, I kicked out and hit her ankle. That caught her by surprise and I heard the smallest, quietest yelp of pain escape her. For the second she was distracted by my sudden attack, I rolled back and got out of the way. She was fast when she came at me, now seeming to have some interest in the fight, but I kept on her weaker side. It was hard. As I dodged another swipe, I grabbed a rock and threw it, hoping it would hit target. And it barely did, just a small graze across the back of her ankle. She stumbled forward a little, and I leapt at her, knocking her to the ground. She easily flipped him over and pinned me down, her claws digging into my wrists. I tried to use my knees to hold her off me, and I bit her wrist, but her grip only tightened. I kicked forward, and again hit her ankle.

I felt a little bad at first, until I remembered all the stuff she made us do and how unfair it was. She was heartless, and I was annoyed. Since she didn't get off yet, I kept kicking. Over and over again, until she finally gave in and backed off, but then grabbed my antennae and yanked on them, hard. I yelled out in pain, tried to strike out at her, but she kept enough distance this time to not get hit.

"You little scum bag." She growled, practically lifting me up and throwing me to the ground. I hit my head hard on a rock, and I think I might have passed out for a second. When I opened my eyes, I saw her limping away from me and going back to her normal spot. Now her limp was clear and easy to see. So even if I lost, at least I made a mark.

That night, I found Lard Nar and Five already in the room. Five had a small bandage wrapped around his arm where the burn was, and Lard Nar had some kind of creamy stuff over the burn on his horn. Both of them looked tired. I could relate, since I had a pounding headache ever since Kir yanked my antennae. But at least I got the satisfaction of watching her limping heavily back to where the trainers would meet at the end of the day. None of us said a word to each other as we laid down and probably all fell asleep instantly.

**Well…..that was a bit longer than the first one, no? Reviews really help me update faster! Sorry if I didn't go too into detail with the training.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So sorry it took so long to update!**

**Someone reviewed, telling me that all my stories except "Road to Recovery" suck and that I should continue that story. That story was written like…three years ago. I'm not going to continue it, when I made it clear it was a two-shot. And why put that on one of my Invader Zim fanfictions, and not a Percy Jackson one?**

**Whatever…I deleted it anyway. I also watched a movie yesterday, called Alaska. It was good…about these siblings who's dad gets in a plane crash, but search crews can't find it, so they go searching instead, and end up saving a baby polar bear that starts to follow them and leads them to the crash site….it was a very strange, yet good, movie. **

For the next few days, Kir wasn't there. I found this a little strange, but when I asked Lard Nar and Five about it, they didn't seem to care.

"She only teaches sometimes. Her leaders give her a lot of strange odd-jobs." Five shrugged.

"She's a hard trainer. Technically, I don't mind her being gone for a while." Lard Nar snorted. His horn still had the small burns on it, and I could tell it was still sore to the touch. Five's burn recovered already.

After breakfast, we headed out and lined up like we always did. For the past few days, our trainers had varied in species. One day it was an Irken -a somewhat short one, might I add-, a Vortian, something with a big head and constant headache, and then some weird thing that walked on six legs when it wanted to move fast, and four legs when it was instructing us. Today, it was another Daten. This one was a male. To me, all Datens looked the same, beside from their antennae. The girls had curled antennae, the males had straight ones. And that was the only difference I could see. This one is a male. He looked more easy-going then Kir did, so I had hope that I would get through this without fatal injuries.

"Who's this one?" I whispered to Lard Nar, while the Daten walked along the line of students, probably taking attendance.

"I think it's Chir. Rumors say he's Kir's mate, others say he's just her best friend. I don't see how either can be true though, because he's so much easier going." Lard Nar answered.

"Opposites attract." Five shrugged. We stopped talking and straightened out when he came to us. I refrained from asking if those rumors were true. I wanted to find out myself without asking anyone. That way I could use it against Kir. I studied him as he walked past. He looked about the same size as she did, but with a broader build. His muscles were a little more visible, and one antennae was shorter than the other. The Vortain trainer we had told us that one of the only ways to kill a Daten without risking serious injury, was to sneak behind one and cut off its antennae. His gate was that of a confident solider and not of a general or commander.

He finished attendance and faced us all, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else besides here. His eyes scanned over everyone, resting for a second longer on me, and I could've sworn I saw a bit of a glare in them before he moved on.

"I see we have some fresh meat. Since that's the case, I'll remind everyone that I'm Chir and while I'm not as strict as some of the others, I'm not going to tolerate disobedience. I believe you all know the normal warm ups?"

Everyone nodded. It was run three laps around the track, 100 push-ups, and jogging in place for 10 minutes. Much easier than what Kir would make us do. I don't like her. She pushes us all too hard, even the dead beginners.

Lard Nar flicked the side of my head. "Come on, stupid. We're the last ones."

He was right. It was just me, him, and Five left. Chir was watching us, silently ordering us to start. I followed the others as they took off around the track. It wasn't as hard now as it had been at first. Now it felt normal to run and do push-ups and jog in place. It was almost too easy already. Seeing as I had only been here for so long, I figure that by the time I'm done, I'll be so used to everything that I'll be able to do it all backwards and with my eyes closed. I'll know every pebble, every crack, every bump in the track and where the dirt was the softest for push-ups. I didn't tell anyone that of course, because than they would start following me around so THEY would get all the good places.

While we were jogging in place, Chir explained what we would be doing.

"Today is for working on fitness and agility. You will be staying in one place, but will have to do a jumping jack, then hit the floor and do a push up with one hand, roll over and jump back your feet, jog for 20 seconds, back to the floor and do a sit-up, jump back up for another jumping jack, and start again. Begin."

That sounded easier than it really is. By the third time, we were all sweaty and panting. Who would've thought something so simple would be such a work out? And he had us do that all day. By the time it was over, we were all soaked to the bone in sweat and aching.

"I thought you said he was easier." I grumbled to Lard Nar.

"I did. And he is. Can you imagine what Kir would have us to for fitness and agility training? It would probably all of that with twelve pounds added on each time while having to balance on a ledge that hangs over boiling acid." He snorted. He had a point there too. I could totally see her doing that to us.

"As long they don't let her train us for fitness, I don't mind what Chir makes us do." Five stated.

"They don't let Kir do fitness?"

"Not after the last time. About half of others passed out and were in the infirmary for a while."

"I think they should continue to not let her do fitness." I sighed and flopped down onto my bed. "I call first shower."

"You got first shower yesterday!" Lard Nar protested.

"So?"

"So I get it first now." Five stated, before making a mad dash to the bathroom. Lard Nar and I slammed into each other in our attempt to get there first, but the door was already slammed shut and locked. We both retreated to our beds. Thankfully Five takes fast showers. Lard Nar beat me to get the second shower. I could see now why Vortains lasted so long with their odd shaped legs. They might look awkward when they walked, but they could launch themselves into a full sprint and outrun almost anyone.

The next day, we were still aching from the fitness workout. I was hoping we would get an easy day, and be learning about history or how to build a weapon or something. History may be boring, but at least it wasn't running laps and doing physical activity. Breakfast went fast. It tasted different…really good actually. It was strange. Everyone was asking for seconds and for once, the lunch drones were letting us have more. And then, we found out that our classes were delayed! Apparently, the instructor for my group/class/whatever ran into some traffic on the way here and was going to be coming in late! Now we just needed that trainer to be an easy-going, relaxed person with an easy lesson.

As we waited though, I started to feel kinda….gross. My stomach started to hurt, and I felt tired and groggy. I wanted to lay down. Looking around, some of the others looked that way too. They were walking around with hands on their stomachs, or putting their heads down, asking some of the guards if they could go to their rooms. But they were all told no. I heard Lard Nar groan, and I glanced over to see him slam his head on the table.

"I think I have an idea on what's happening, and I don't like it." He groaned.

"The food drones finally rebelled and gave everyone expired food to kill off this whole generation?" Five guessed.

"No. But we haven't seen _her _in a while and she seemed pretty annoyed when she left last time…" Lard Nar bit his lip.

"Why would she poison us? I don't think they'll let her." I stated.

"She's been known to break the rules a few times. And she's said several times that rules are just there to prevent people from learning the fastest way –by making stupid mistakes." Lard Nar sighed.

"I still doubt that she did it."

Well, it won't be the first time I was wrong. It turns out that Kir was our trainer for the day.

"Can I go back to my dorm?" One of the Vortains asked. He was built smaller than Lard Nar was.

"Nope." Kir shook her head as she watched all of our miserable faces.

"But I-"

"Don't feel good, I know." She sighed in annoyance. "Guess what, you filthy rats, that was done on purpose."

"You poisoned us!" I glared at her.

"Well, now I wouldn't say _poisoned…"_ She had on one of those innocent faces that a child uses when suggesting that something they did that was bad, wasn't so bad.

"So then what would you call it?!"

"Aged. I told the cooks to just throw together anything, and when they weren't looking, I threw in some expired stuff, and a few things that smelled weird and had a strange color that I found in the back of my shelves at home." She shrugged casually. I couldn't believe this. She just made everyone sick on purpose!

"Why would you do that!?"

"Because I knew how you all would act. All of you are here to learn to survive on strange planets, fight in wars, maybe even some day follow Daten lead and invade other planets for their benefit. And if you have a little stomach ache, they aren't going to just let you sit out or take a day or two off. " She explained. "Some planets are less sanitary and their viruses are different than the ones you're all used to. You'll have to get used to feeling horrible if you ever want to get somewhere. And I'm speaking from experience."

"Didn't you miss a few days because of your ankle?" Someone on the other end of the line asked. Kir looked annoyed by that, but everyone else agreed it was a good enough question. There had been rumors that she has been absent from teaching because of her ankle.

"I missed a few days because I was helping design a weapon with some of the head Vortian scientists." She glared at everyone.

"But you were limping-"

"I have a bad ankle, so what?!" She snapped. She took a deep breath, eyes closed for a second. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke again. "There is no such thing as a perfect warrior. Everyone has flaws that will be used against you, time and time again. But if you know your flaws well enough, they can very easily be used to your advantage. While he might've spotted that flaw," She pointed a claw at me, "I can very easily find his own flaws, such as a big mouth and no knowledge of when to shut it. Anyone can very easily learn his plans, just by wording the questions right."

I glared at her. I did not have a big mouth!

"Now everyone go run….three laps this time." She ordered, and groaning, we all started our laps.

"She's such a….I don't even think they have a word for her!" I growled once I was sure we were out of ear shot. Lard Nar and Five were keeping pace with me.

"She may be cruel and short tempered, but she _is _considered one of the best out there. She's studied everything from machinery, weaponry, medical, and combat." Lard Nar said. I could see it in his face that he would rather be laying down in our dorm then running. I think everyone would rather be laying down.

"I still don't like her." Five snorted as he ran. Lard Nar only shrugged, and we ran the rest of the way in a miserable silence. Lard Nar looked ready to pass out by the time we finished. His face was about ten shades lighter and he was holding his stomach. Kir was lounging back with another Daten. It looked like the one from yesterday, whatever his name was. Chir, I think. She looked bored as he talked.

"Everyone get back in a line." She said. "He's going to pick out teams, and we're going to make a mini battle thing."

We slowly got back into a line. I noticed Lard Nar was swaying now. Chir was walking up the line, pointing and counting. One, two, one, two, one, two….He paused when he got to Lard Nar and watched him sway and the dull look in his eyes. Five had stepped away from him, as if he expected the Vortain to puke all over him. Chir made a quick, jerking motion with his antennae, and Kir looked up, as if she had heard him say something. I remember one night Five saying he had watched how Datens acted around each other, and how they seemed to be able to have complete conversations without saying a word or looking at each other, just by simply moving their antennae in a certain way. I could see it now, how Chir had made the jerking motion and Kir had gotten up and was heading over.

"What? You forgot what comes after the number one?" She grumbled irritably, but I could hear something different in her voice. Something…softer and kinder.

"This one isn't looking good." Chir stated, nodding toward Lard Nar. Kir sighed, the softer look and tone leaving her expression as she came a step closer and gripped Lard Nar's chin, looking him in the eye. After a minute, she sighed, and forced him to turn around.

"I'll be back." She said, before giving Lard Nar a push forward. "Move, you little rat. Puke on me, and I'll have to kill you." The two walked off and disappeared into the building.

"Where's she taking him?" I asked, somewhat curious. I had never seen her put her attention on just one of us before and not a group.

"The medical bay. Whatever she did to everyone's food this morning was giving him a worse reaction then everyone else." Chir shrugged, and continued to count. I was on team number 1, and Five was on team 2. Chir got everyone on separate rides and had briefly explained that our goal was to get to the other team's side and grab the painted stone. Each time had a stone, and there was supposed to be someone guarding it at all times, while others tried to break through the opposite team's defense line and get the rock back to their own side. No killing or maiming allowed, but taking advantage of flaws and the fact that everyone felt sick to their stomachs was perfectly acceptable. Kir returned by then.

"You'll be picking the team leader yourselves. Pick wisely. The best fighter may not be a good leader. Intelligence is power." She said, before sitting down on a large boulder next to Chir. "You have five minutes to pick your leaders."

I looked over who else was on my team. There was that one head-ache guy, who's eye was twitching and he looked ready to go insane. He wouldn't make a good leader at all. There was also another Irken, one a little taller than me, with green eyes. I'm pretty sure his name was Timm or something, and I'm also pretty sure he was blind in both eyes. Then there was a shorter Irken, one with blue-ish green eyes. He looked bored with this whole thing. A Vortain was standing there with a worried look on his face, and seemed to be counting something on his finger. Everyone on this team –besides me, of course- looked useless.

"So I guess I'll be the leader, since no one else took the job-"

"But he's taller than you, so he should be the leader." The shorter Irken said, pointing at Timm.

"So? He's blind, I'm not. I think that I gives me the advantage."

"Being blind might make him smarter though. Intelligence is power, according to Kir." The nervous looked Vortain stated.

"And you'll believe her after she poisoned our food?" I snorted. "You're probably one of the dumbest ones on this team then, if you believe a jerk like her."

"You're the newest one here. So you're technically the dumbest."

"MY HEAD!"

"Times up! You should've picked a leader and a plan by now, so start!" Kir called out. I cursed.

"I'm the leader, so you, you, and you guard the rock and the rest of us will go after them!" I said, pointing to Timm, the head-ache thing, and the Vortain.

"You're no taller-"

"Shut up!" I snapped at the smaller one as we were charged by a small group of Five's team. Five was the only one guarding the painted rock, while some of the others just stood there on his side cluelessly, and the other half of his side charged. We met them head on, fighting with our fists and teeth only. We had no weapons. I was fighting some weird looking thing, something that looked like a nothing but a huge ball of hair with six legs and rows and rows of razor sharp teeth that were hidden under the hair. I got tangled easily.

There was cheer, and the hairy thing let go of me. The other team was holding our rock, cheering and laughing and pointing at us.

"No fair, they must've cheated! We had more people guarding our rock-"

"But you didn't listen to anything I said." Kir had appeared behind me. "Intelligence is power, strength is just a bonus. It's your biggest flaw to act and say before you think."

And then she walked away, and said something to Five, who grinned –the first sign of emotion I've ever seen in him.

I got back to the dorm in a bad mood. I was one of the first to leave. I couldn't believe we lost! My team, losing!? I was the best choice for a leader, but they were all useless and didn't follow what I had told them at all! It was their fault we lost. I pushed the door open and slammed it shut. The dorm was empty. I guess Lard Nar was still in the medical bay then. Huffing, I grabbed fresh clothes and headed to the shower, still trying to figure out how my plan had gone wrong. There was no way Kir was right. I always thought about what I said. Everyone I've ever met said I was smart. She was the only one who ever said otherwise.


End file.
